Those who know me as a travel photographer know that I don’t usually photograph endangered wildlife.
But these times of Coronavirus are difficult for travel photographers, writers & bloggers. You see, you can’t create travel content if you can’t travel. So, here’s a slightly different series of some of the rarest and endangered Australian wildlife at present. I’m very happy with the last shot… I can’t believe I managed to capture the (currently) incredibly rare ‘common sense’ hiding in a bush.
In all seriousness, it does feel like this suddenly got very real overnight. In Australia, we’re not (yet) completely locked down like Italy but surely it’s only a matter of time. I’ve been instructed to work from home and all the offices are closed for the next 14 days.
Yet, we also need to apply common sense blended with a realistic, fact-based optimism. But, can we maintain common sense in a coronavirus world?
Mainstream media thrives on doomsday narratives and they don’t get much better than COVID-19. I mean, the story of coronavirus is like something out of any mainstream apocalyptic movie, complete with conspiracies and government coverups. But, we need to remember that even on the best days, the news can make us feel as though we’re living in the end times. It’s important now, more than ever, to not passively consume content. To quote from the movie ‘Contagion’:
“Nothing spreads like fear”.
All it takes is for a few unconscious people to start panic buying toilet paper (of all things) in bulk. From this, even the most level-headed begin to panic and the fear of missing out results in queues of people with toilet-roll-laden trolleys… I guess we all need it but, if people just continued their shopping habits there wouldn’t be an issue. The toilet-paper-hoarders may also take refuge knowing that there are other methods for sanitation… a trip to Asia will enlighten them that paper is not the only means of cleaning yourself.
The problem is that our mindset is vulnerable to sensationalism. Dictators, governments, advertising agencies, and news broadcasters know this and play on it to create fear and paranoia that keeps us glued to screens. Newsreaders with soft faces in crisp suits read death toll numbers like sports scores to a backdrop of a red, evil-looking virus graphic and we can’t help but panic. So, it’s important that we remain in touch with the news but keep to the facts and not be infected by fear. Be an active consumer of media by proactively accessing sources you trust without the dramatic soundtrack and crosses to wide-eyed reporters in ‘hot-zones’ all over the globe.
Everywhere you look, it’s obvious that a lot of people are reaching the tipping point where fear overcomes compassion and common sense. Supermarket brawls over toilet paper and other essentials make us feel as though we’re heading straight into a world of Contagion meets Outbreak meets The Walking Dead and we’ve lost the brakes. Yet, on the other end of the spectrum, you’ve got beautiful scenes of passionate Italians playing music and singing from tiny balconies as Il Canto degli Italiani echoes through eerily quiet, ancient Roman laneways of exposed cobblestone, no longer hidden by the tread of tourists and locals each day.
It’s a cliche but true… times like this bring out the best and worst in people. In Australia, we’re still very much recovering from the bushfire crises as we now ponder our mortality in a COVID-19 world. Two crises collide back-to-back and we can’t help feel but a little exhausted. There’s only so much your emotional heartstrings can handle before they snap in a twang of anger, fear, and frustration. If you find you’ve been struggling with any of these feelings during this time, it’s important to take steps to protect your mental health. For example, speaking with mental health professionals such as those at BetterHelp.com can be a helpful tool.
Times like these spawn anxiety because we don’t deal well with uncertainty. We’ve evolved well beyond days of living in caves in a dangerous, predatory world we can’t control yet, pandemics like this send us hurtling back millennia by exposing our modern-day psyche to our vulnerable mortality and reminding us that we’re anything but in control.
Buddhist philosophy focuses on embracing the fact that nothing is permanent and everything changes beyond our control every second of our existence. Buddhists even meditate on death and contemplate impermanence daily to feel grateful for life and to create a sense of urgency… an immediate need to spiritually transcend now because we never know what tomorrow (or even this afternoon) brings. I’d take a guess that anyone living by this philosophy is probably more relaxed than the majority of people right now.
It’s interesting that in times like this, I think we all contemplate impermanence and the unknown. I’m not suggesting we do (and should) contemplate death in the context of coronavirus, I just mean that in times where there’s so much uncertainty, we seem to mentally ‘take stock’ and our priorities shift… this isn’t always a bad thing.
We worry less about what someone said or that passive-aggressive email our colleague sent us at work. Instead, we focus more on family, the essence of life and the ones we love. Maybe if we could all remain in such a state in the absence of any crisis we could change the world for the better. It’s a shame we have to stare our mortality and raw vulnerability in the face before we start to realise what’s important in our lives and what’s not.
We don’t know how long this will last or what the future holds so take care, stay grounded, stay informed but avoid fear and fear-mongering people. Let’s embrace some sensible optimism, and use this experience to transform within ourselves and remember again what’s important and discard what’s not.